PDA

View Full Version : [3.5] Garrote's, Locking Garrote's, and getting them to work



manter
2009-11-08, 05:17 AM
So in looking through the dragon compendium I came across the garrote ring and in its text it mentions that there exists a locking garrote. It seems to hint that the locking garrote does not require successive grapple checks. Does any one know what the rules are for a Locking Garrote?
Also what are some feats or items that would generally improve the use and performance of a Garrote?

Dhavaer
2009-11-08, 05:59 AM
I've never seen a 3.5 locking garrotte, but in 3.0 they were in either Song & Silence or Arms & Equipment Guide.

Sintanan
2009-11-08, 06:00 AM
Locking Garrote (Source: Song & Silence, 3E).

From what I remember from playing an assassin years ago... once you lock it, it continues to make the opposed checks for you at your last roll (so if you roll 13 and lock it, it continues to "roll" 13's)... and there was something about having proficiency in it to make the disable device check to remove it easy. Dunno... try to dig the sourcebook out later.


As for the plain garrotes, they have been updated to 3.5, and there is a link for it (although they do not state the sourcebook).
http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Garrote_(DnD_Equipment)

arguskos
2009-11-08, 07:56 AM
Since I am Manter's DM and we discussed this earlier, lemme clarify a touch. We HAVE 3.5 Garrote stats (they're in the Dragon Compendium; great book, btw). In their statblock, they mention "locking garrotes", but no such thing can be found in any official 3.5 material I am aware of.

It was my thought that they might have appeared in a Dragon Magazine, and if so, which one might that have been in. This, I cannot answer, and so, I advised him to turn to the good forums full of friendly folk for good advice.

EDIT: to the above: if you could dig that out and post the full text here, that'd be amazingly helpful. It's 3.0 only, but it's better than nothing, for certain!

Dimers
2009-11-08, 11:36 AM
"This nasty variant of the wire garrote comes with a pair of metal grips, each of which contains one portion of a locking mechanism. Once the garrote has begun to deal damage after a garrote attack, the attacker can link the two ends and twist the grips into their locked position. This maintains strangling pressure on the victim even after the attacker lets go. The victim continues to make grapple checks (each one opposed by the last attack roll the attacker made) until freed or unconscious.

"The DC for the Disable Device check to free a victim from a locked garrote is 10 if the character attempting the task has Exotic Weapon Proficiency (locking garrote), or 25 otherwise. If someone other than the victim makes the attempt, a -5 circumstance penalty applies to the check unless the victim is held, unconscious, or otherwise kept from moving. A character attempting to remove a locking garrote from his or her own neck suffers the same penalty on the Disable Device check, this time from working blind. Naturally, it's impossible for any character to take 10 or take 20 on this check unless the victim trapped in the device is already dead. Smashing the locking garrote leaves it frozen in the locked position."

100 gp, 3 pounds ... 1d8 slashing, crit 18-20 (same as wire) ... 4 hp, 7 hardness. Its size is "small", which would mean "light" in 3.5, although that brings up the question of properly matching garrote size to the target.

Danin
2009-11-08, 02:13 PM
I actually used a locking garrote in a campaign a few weeks back. They knew an assassin was after them, but didn't really care seeing as the last assassin was a bit of a push over.

In the surprise round she dropped the favored soul with a sap, won initiative, applied the locking garrote with a use activated silence effect on it to the mage. Good times, seeing as she had already removed the two fighter's weapons from the room.

Radar
2009-11-08, 03:08 PM
I actually used a locking garrote in a campaign a few weeks back. They knew an assassin was after them, but didn't really care seeing as the last assassin was a bit of a push over.

In the surprise round she dropped the favored soul with a sap, won initiative, applied the locking garrote with a use activated silence effect on it to the mage. Good times, seeing as she had already removed the two fighter's weapons from the room.
To be frank, choking someone or slitting their throat with a garrote should prevent them from talking let alone chanting magical formulae (from a realistic point of view), so the silence effect is (or should be - i'm fuzzy on how RAW handles garrote) kind of redundant.

ShneekeyTheLost
2009-11-08, 04:06 PM
Locking Garrote would seem to break action economy about as badly as Time Stop, Celerity, and Imbue Familiar with SLA do for wizards... although in a more limited fashion.

Quite bluntly: If there are Locking Garrotes, don't expect to run into anything it will work on ever again. Against anything they work on, they are a win button. Otherwise, they are worthless. So the only things they will work on are things that should be a negligible challenge.

olentu
2009-11-08, 04:54 PM
To be frank, choking someone or slitting their throat with a garrote should prevent them from talking let alone chanting magical formulae (from a realistic point of view), so the silence effect is (or should be - i'm fuzzy on how RAW handles garrote) kind of redundant.

As I recall the garrote attack rules keeps one from using verbal components.

Boci
2009-11-08, 04:58 PM
Locking Garrote would seem to break action economy about as badly as Time Stop, Celerity, and Imbue Familiar with SLA do for wizards... although in a more limited fashion.

Quite bluntly: If there are Locking Garrotes, don't expect to run into anything it will work on ever again. Against anything they work on, they are a win button. Otherwise, they are worthless. So the only things they will work on are things that should be a negligible challenge.

I agree it needs some draw back, but I like the concept too much to just ban it. I forget exactly how garrote's work, but if you put a penalty on the grapple check for a locking one that could balance it.

ShneekeyTheLost
2009-11-08, 10:48 PM
I agree it needs some draw back, but I like the concept too much to just ban it. I forget exactly how garrote's work, but if you put a penalty on the grapple check for a locking one that could balance it.

The breakability is when you get a few dozen of them. Slap it on one guy, keep going. Slap it on another guy, keep going. With the right build, you could totally win an encounter by yourself fairly quickly. Something like a rogue version of swift hunter build, using a dip in Cleric with Travel Devotion to move around and get everything locked up and choking.

Boci
2009-11-08, 10:50 PM
The breakability is when you get a few dozen of them. Slap it on one guy, keep going. Slap it on another guy, keep going. With the right build, you could totally win an encounter by yourself fairly quickly. Something like a rogue version of swift hunter build, using a dip in Cleric with Travel Devotion to move around and get everything locked up and choking.

Rule that locking them into place takes a swift action. Now you can only do so once per round.